It is our hope that the hierarchy will cease threatening to excommunicate us and heed the pope’s exhortation to delight in the feminine in the church and in our movement.

Aside from the lack of understanding given to the context of the Pope’s statement, what Meehan does not explain is that the Church is not excommunicating her, but that it is her actions and her refusal to reconcile herself to Church doctrine.

Two, the phrase “Roman Catholic Womenpriests” is so offensive to the ear that had I been sympathetic to her point of view before I would surely demand that she be burned at the stake now, preferably using dictionaries as the kindling.

There is a cloud of “historical” foofoodust being thrown into the air here…suffice it to say that actual historians of the Church acknowledge quite freely that there were female deacons–but that they were not “ordained” in the sense we use the word–that is, for the purpose of being an alter Christi, with the power to celebrate the Mass and forgive sins.

Instead, these deaconess-es were made so (with some ceremony, perhaps) for a VERY practical purpose–to assist Bishops and priests with the Church’s charitable activities, with particular emphasis on caring for widows (and/or baptizing women.) The reasons should be obvious. Many of them remained in health-care and the term “deaconess” is familiar in hospital circles.